Ultimate Travel Credit Cards Guide Chase Proprietary Bottom Line

The first bank I will be evaluating is JP Morgan Chase. Chase offers a series of three categories of personal credit cards, per my evaluation. The Travel Credit Cards Guide Chase Proprietary evaluates the Ultimate Rewards Cards. The categories and the verdict are here:

Airlines

Hotels

Proprietary

Verdict

Here are the Credit Cards that are offered by Chase Bank. These cards are branded solely by Chase and their products. Also, these cards offer Chase Ultimate Rewards Points (and is the only category with Business Credit Cards):

Chase Sapphire Preferred

Description: Chase’s most popular card, the Sapphire Preferred is the primary card to obtain Chase’s Ultimate Rewards. They are a currency that can be used for travel within Chase’s own portal, or they can be transferred to other partner programs. The complete list is here. I believe this card to be the ideal card for people who want to start accruing points. The flexibility of the points are very useful, and they offer a pretty solid product with bonus categories and a decent sign up bonus. Score: 8/10

Sign Up Bonus: The card comes with a sign-up bonus of 50,000 points after $4,000 spend. This can be used as a $625 credit to Chase’s travel portal. The miles can also be transferred to other programs, like the ones mentioned above. Score: 7/10

Normal Day Accrual: Probably my favorite part of the Sapphire Preferred are the bonus categories. You get 2X the points on airfare and dining. There are broad definitions of what these categories entail, and I think it’s a lucrative option. Otherwise, you get 1 point per $1 spent on all other things. Score: 6/10

Added Perks: The card comes with very few added perks, besides 24/7 help, no foreign transaction fees, and Visa Signature protection. Score: 4/10

Annual Fee: The card comes with an annual fee of $95, waived for the first year. Score: 5/10

Credit Score needed: Very Good to Excellent Credit Needed.

Final Score: 30/50

Chase Sapphire Reserve

Description: Chase Sapphire Reserve is Chase’s premium credit card. Considered by many as their best credit card overall, the Sapphire Reserve comes with many benefits that make it a very coveted card. Also, it offers Chase Ultimate Rewards points, that are transferable to the programs on the above chart. Score: 8/10

Sign Up Bonus: The card comes with an incredible sign-up bonus of 100,000 points after $4000 spend in the first three months. Score: 10/10

Normal Day Accrual: On everyday spending, the card earns 1 point per $1. It also earns 3 points per $1 on travel and dining. Score: 8/10

Added Perks: The card comes with tons of added perks. My favorite (among others) are $300 airline credit, Priority Pass membership for primary and authorized members. The Visa Infinite Protections and benefits are also included. Global Entry/TSA PreCheck fee is included as are elite status on various car rental agencies. Finally, it comes with no foreign transaction fees, as well as a 24/7 concierge. Score: 9/10

Annual Fee: The card comes at a steep price of $450 annual fee, not waived. If you value the airline credit at face value, then it becomes $150. Taking into account all the benefits, the annual fee seems minimal. Score: 7/10

Credit Score needed: Excellent Credit (Visa Infinites usually require an income of $4,000 per month after taxes as a minimum, confirmed via Chase and other providers).

Final Score: 42/50

Chase Ink Business Plus

Description: The only available business card that I will review is the Chase Ink Plus, Business Card. The card is part of Chase Ultimate Rewards and serves as their upper-level (for now) business credit card. The card offers the same transferability as any other Ultimate Rewards card and comes with a few extra spending categories. Score: 8/10

Sign Up Bonus: The card comes with a nice sign-up bonus of 60,000 points after $5,000 spend in the first three months. Per the company, that is $750 to spend via Chase’s airfare portal, or transferable to any partner. Score: 8/10

Normal Day Accrual: The card comes with various bonus categories. Among those are 5 points per $1 on office supply stores, cellphone, landline, and cable providers, and well as 2 points per $1 on hotel and gas stations. Finally, it offers 1 point per $1 on everything else. Score: 9/10

Added Perks: The card comes with a few added perks, such as no foreign transaction fees, and small business solutions. Score: 4/10

Annual Fee: The card has an annual fee of $95 not waived the first year. Score: 4/10

Credit Score needed: Very Good- Excellent Credit

Final Score:  33/50

Chase Ink Business Preferred

Description: So this card has only been announced recently (the week of October 19). The card takes aim at American Express’s Platinum Business Card. According to the article published by Bloomberg, it is meant to be a competitor against premium business cards. It will use Ultimate Rewards points as well. Score: 8/10

Sign Up Bonus: The card has been advertised as having a sign-up bonus of 80,000 points after $5,000 spend during the first month. This is an improvement to the Ink Plus. Score: 9/10

Normal Day Accrual: They have not announced the bonus categories, but I will assume (for the sake of the chart) that it is the same as the Ink Plus card. This information is inaccurate as the issuer has yet to disclose the official benefits. Score: 9/10

Added Perks: We do not know what perks will come with the card. I have no basis to give out a score, but stay tuned. As soon as they reveal the categories and perks, I will update this.

Annual Fee: Annual fee is $95, waived for the first year. Better than the Ink Plus. Score: 6/10

Credit Score needed: Excellent Credit Score

Final Score: 32/40

Landing Thoughts

Chase Ultimate Rewards are one of my favorite points currencies. I believe them to be very flexible. Also, the bonuses offered from the cards as well as the bonus categories are very commonly used. As well, I believe that the Chase Sapphire Reserve is a good competitor to the American Express Platinum. They both offer premium benefits at a premium price and allow their customers to enjoy the flexibility of a good concierge. However, the Ink Plus business card I find about to become redundant. With the Ink Preferred, it will offer better benefits than the Ink Plus, for the same price. Let’s see what will be in the future for JPMorgan-Chase’s business cards, as the future seem bright.

Here are the links to the rest of the series on Chase.

Introduction

Airlines

Hotels

Proprietary

Verdict